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Monday, 20 January 2014

Vote for Kate's Best Hats, Jewellery & Clutches + Latest News

We mark the beginning of another week with our final poll post (and we have several polls to share today, so do have your voting fingers at the ready) looking at Kate's hats, jewellery and clutches. Often times, accessories have the ability to make or break an outfit. As the Duchess favours simple lines and classically cut garments her accessories tend to follow the same fashion rules, making for some very elegant looks.

Let's begin with hats. Nowadays women don't wear hats often enough, as there simply are not enough occasions on the social calender which call for a fabulous fascinator or an eye-catching hat, yet there has never been such talent in the British millinery industry. The Duchess showcases some of the UK's finest offerings at royal events and weddings.

We saw the Duchess in her 'Fairy Tale' hat by Sylvia Fletcher for Lock & Co in the same month at the Aldershot Parade. The hat originally retailed for £245 and was available in eight different colours.

Also in March, Kate joined The Queen and Prince Philip for an engagement and looked very elegant in the jaunty black hat by Whiteley.

Next, we have a rather informal piece to look at. When the Duchess volunteered with the scouts in the snow, it was all about practicality and keeping warm. Kate chose a moss speck tweed cap from Really Wild Clothing for the engagement.

For me, it has to be the Jane Taylor 'Georgie' hat Kate wore to George's Christening. It worked so beautifully with the ensemble.

Moving onto our second poll of the day: Kate's Jewellery in 2013! Let's begin with the simple but timeless Kiki McDonough 'Grace' earrings. The £695 earrings feature a round white topaz gemstone surrounded by small diamonds set in 18ct gold.

Kiki McDonough

One of Kate's most glamorous pair are the 18ct gold and diamond green amethyst earrings William reportedly gave her as a gift for Christmas in 2011. They are believed to be a customised version of a citrine pair which retailed for £1900.

Her Royal Highness wore a pair of dazzling drop earrings to The Art Room reception; it has been suggested they were loaned to her by The Queen.

Splash News

For the Annual Diplomatic Reception, Kate teamed the Papyrus tiara with a pair of diamond chandelier earrings loaned to her by Her Majesty. Kate previously wore them at a BAFTA reception in Los Angeles in 2011.

I voted for our final option, The Queen's Chandelier Earrings, what about you?

In our next poll, we look at Kate's necklaces. Those of you who regularly follow her style will know she favours minimalist jewellery and rarely wears statement necklaces for royal engagements, however, there have been a couple of new additions to her collection and a return of favoured items such as the Asprey 167 Button Pendant.

Asprey

Kate debuted a new pendant during a visit to Shooting Star Hospice from the Mappin & Webb Fortune Collection in white gold and diamonds. The £3,950 piece is described as a "contemporary classic, mid-length necklace set in three 18 carat white gold infinity loops; a celebration of luck and good fortune".

Mappin and Webb

Kate was photographed shopping at Zara wearing a new pendant, which is thought to have been a gift to mark the birth of Prince George. If we look closely we can see a little boy figurine and gold discs.

A small but interesting selection and for me quite an easy choice. I loved the Zara necklace; it added a freshness to a dress we'd seen before and looked a million dollars on Kate. Many of us thought it was by Cartier upon first look.

Our last jewellery poll is a little different than previous ones as we only have one nominee. The Papyrus Tiara. I simply couldn't omit it as it was the defining piece of jewellery for Kate in 2013. This is an interesting opportunity to gauge what you all thought!

What did you think of the Papyrus Tiara?

I loved it!

It was great to see Kate in a tiara, but I'm not a huge fan of the Papyrus

Time for our final poll, offering a look at Kate's clutches. I've always thought clutches are an interesting accessory for the royals and not solely from a sartorial perspective. Carrying a clutch gives one something to do with one's hands during engagements. We often see Kate holding her hands in front of her stomach for example.

Below we see Kate's black suede clutch.

Her brown suede Emmy 'Natasha' clutch.

Emmy Shoes

The L.K. Bennett Avona Patent Leather Roll Clutch is a popular piece. The £195 taupe oval structured piece is described as 'chic, sleek and modern'.

I voted for the bow McQueen clutch; it's a very eye-catching accessory!

************

It's been another quiet week for the Cambridges. While William continues his bespoke course at Cambridge University, the Duchess is looking after Prince George. However, the Palace has said she will undertake a 'handful of engagements' before the tour in April. There has been a small number of interesting news stories we'd like to share.

Firstly, William, Kate and Harry have set up companies to protect their intellectual property rights. The move will allow them to protect their image rights and, if they wish, market products in their name (however, we won't see them endorsing tea towels, etc. any time soon). The Palace has described it as a 'precautionary move', and the companies are dormant. It is expected they will remain so for the time being.

Daily Mail

Kate's company is called 'CE Strathearn' - Catherine Elizabeth Strathearn - after her Scottish title. William's company is 'APL Anglesey' - using his middle names Arthur, Philip and Louis, and of course Anglesey, the couple's former home in Wales. Harry's is named after an African antelope 'Tsessebe'. William and Kate's personal private secretaries Miguel Head and Rebecca Deacon are listed as company directors, as are solicitors and accountants.

The photographer who took William and Kate's official engagement photos, Mario Testino, has given an incredibly insightful interview (a real treat for royal fans) to the Telegraph in which he discusses his relationship with the royals. When he was asked to put on a show of Diana photographs he invited William and Harry:

'I approached them without knowing them, because I felt they had to give me their blessing for an enterprise like this. I myself am so close to my mum, I felt I couldn't do anything about their mother without their approval. They came to view the rooms with Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy.'

Mr. Testino said Prince Harry was "so like Charles" while William was "more like his mother, there's a kindness and gentleness that instantly wins you over". Following that first meeting Mario felt William was "completely in love with Kate and I knew they would stay together".

Mario Testino/Clarence House

Of course they did, and in 2010 William and Kate turned to the photographer to take the official photographs:

'I waited a long time, an hour or two, to make that picture perfect. But I wasn't totally satisfied. Then, when I'd finished the shoot, they were about to leave and they suddenly hugged in front of a radiator. I took my camera and that was the picture that ran everywhere - it was spontaneous emotion... you could see they were completely in love.'

Mr. Testino revealed Kate does not remind him of Diana: "Kate, she is beautiful in a different way; she radiated happiness. She is comfortable in her love.' I thought it a superb interview and adored the little tidbits about the royals. You can read the piece in its entirety at The Telegraph.

My apologies, this one has turned into a very long post. Before we sign off for today, a quick reminder you can vote for any of our polls at the Polls Page for another couple of days. For those of you who enjoy following other British and European royals you may be interested to hear The Royal Digest is back; we hope to update it with news, history, fashion, tiaras and much more!

56 comments:

Thanks Charlotte for such great polls! I have to ask, does anyone know how fasinators and hats stay on the head?? Does Kate use hat pins? Are there secret clips? How does she do it?

Now on to the polls. I selected two hats, first the Lock & Co Betty Boop, mostly because I loved it on her when she presented shamrocks to the Welsh guard in 2012. The second hat was the Gina Foster that Kate wore on Chirstmas Day. I thought it looked very festive and worked so well with the tartan coat. For earrings, I've always loved her Kiki Grace white topaz earrings. They look great with a casual outfit as well as a glamorous one. I have a pair of diamond stud earrings that I wear all the time even with jeans. I also voted for the diamond drop earrings on loan from the Queen. They are simple yet stunning. She wore them with the lovely blue lace Temperly in Malaysia and they were the perfect fit to that dress. My favorite necklace is the Mappin & Webb that she has worn recently. I think that it might be a gift from William, maybe to celebrate the birth of their son, or maybe a "just because" gift. Lastly my favorite clutch was the Emmy Natasha clutch. Again, she used it at the same event where she wore the Lock & Co Betty Boop. I really loved that look on Kate, the green and brown went so well together and with her coloring it was a hit.

I can't wait to read what others thought about this poll and what their choices were.

Wow! You are definitely doing more on your school break than I am! School starts again this week for me and I hope you had a wonderful time off as I did. Bluhare's comment about your other blog did cause me to click over and I loved it too. Thank you to both of you. It is snowing here- hope it is just as lovely where you are.

ThankYou for a new post! I can't wait to see Kate out about again! It feels to long with out seeing her, officially or unofficially! I did try to comment on The Royal Digest site but I had to prove I wasn't a computer and my phone wouldn't show the picture I was supposed to type out. So I will say it here. Welcome back! And I can't wait for your informational and informative post on the Royal Families! Oh, when do you think the Palace will announce Zaras baby name? And why would they go home after 6 hrs after having her, doesn't that seem a little soon?

Lovely long post to come back to--computer packed up 2 weeks ago and am just getting used to the new one.Find it difficult to choose a favourite hat, but eventually opted for the Christmas Day one.Same problem with her earrings--depends what she is wearing them with.Delighted she wore a tiara again and it was lovely, but hope we see the scroll again.Lovely story of the engagement photo.There are changes afoot at the Palace--so suspect they will be busy after the Australia?/New Zealand tour---unless Catherine gets pregnant again.

Thank you, Charlotte! The Georgie hat is so beautiful, it is a favorite, along with the green Christmas hat. When I look at these prices, I have a horrible vision of a hat flying off one's head and going into a mud puddle. When I was young, men and women still wore hats every day, and I had a new hat every Easter. But as you say, seems only Royals and aristocratic weddings feature them much now.My favorite earrings are the green amethysts because they are a gift from William, pretty and versatile. Very hard to choose earrings, I like them all. I went for the baby boy necklace for reason of sentiment as well. Clutches, all much of a muchness to me, as my Irish Granny used to say. I want that handbag Pippa carries all the time, can't recall the details.

I voted for the Jane Taylor hat for the coronation service,it was a classy and elegant choice for Kate.The earrings i voted for were the Kiki McDonough Grace earrings. I love diamond studs and those are my favorite. For the necklaces I voted for the Zara diamond choker.,. Im not a big fan of dangling chains so,, I voted for the chunky diamond necklace. I enjoyed voting for this poll, actually had to make specific choices instead of drooling over all of them,Thank You chica!!xoxo

Love the post- all the items are amazing but I have a question about the diamond/sapphire earrings- I seem to recall that they were remade for HRH from a pair that belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales. It the early days after the wedding I (think) remember reading that and seeing a photos of Kate side by side with Diana- Diana wearing the originals and Kate the re-make. I may very well be way off base- just wondering if anyone else remembers that. Charlotte, once again thank you for all that you do-it's so very enjoyable to this American!

Dear Americanfan, I've read the same thing about those earrings. If they are a remake of Diana's, I think it's lovely that Kate wears them so often. I sure it pleases William that she does. I have noticed with those earrings though that they often seem to be almost falling off her ear as though the back isn't on tight enough. They kindof droop forward, I hope she doesn't lose them.

In a few of those pictures Kate's earlobes seemed to be weighted down from the heaviness of the earrings. She really should be careful about wearing heavy earrings because they can split your earlobes in half.

This was a lovely treat, Charlotte - none of your posts can be long enough for me, that´s for sure!! Thanks!I surprised myself by voting very spontaneously for the boy´s cap she wore for the outdoor engagement with the scouts. It looked SO comfy, I just couldn´t resist!As far as the necklaces are concerned I still do not like the Zara piece. It´s so ostensibly fake it almost shouts it in your face. That might be appropriate for "us commoners" - but not for a future queen and not if it´s worn together with such an elegant gown..... That´s my very personal opinion, of course...I chose the red McQueen clutch, too, although I really liked the first black suede clutch as well - it looks incredibly elegant.... So many difficult choices, and all of this first thing in the morning.... ;-)))) but such fun!!Have a lovely day, everyone! Lots of love, Eve

I had been trying to put my finger on why I didn't like the Zara necklace, especially when so many others were raving about it, and I think you stated it exactly. It was so large that it was obvious it was costume jewelry, almost looked like paste. And then she wore it with that incredibly expensive designer gown. For me, it really hurt the elegance of the gown to have it paired with a cheap-looking (to me anyway) necklace. That necklace should just be used as a fun piece to go out clubbing in or something.

I agree about the Zara necklace and it didn't do anything for the gown.

I love the earrings she wore with the tiara because they are larger. :) Most of her earrings are too small IMO. And I like the hat she wore to the Swiss wedding; I thought it was a very sophisticated look. And the Coronation service clutch gets my vote.

What fun to hear other opinions!! I personally liked the Zara necklace with the cream dress and her hair up in a velvet ribbon. To me it was so differant from her usual styling and was youthful and fun.

I think these conversations about Kate and her fashion choices are great, everyone states their opinion and gets a chance to see how others feel about it. Thanks Charlotte for providing this forum.

This has been a lot of fun Charlotte, thank you for putting it all together. All my votes are in and I'm looking forward to the final results. :)Wow you are also doing the Royal Digest again! You are crazy, I suppose that's one of the reasons we love you.Have a lovely day Charlotte and Duchess Kate Fans :)

Thanks for the fantastic polls Charlotte - it has been such fun! Just wondering what dress (if indeed a dress) Kate was wearing in the official engagement picture above? The colour (white/cream?) looks great against her complexion in the picture. Apologies - I expect you have written about it in an earlier post.

Of course! With the brilliant red maple leaf hat! How could I forget?! Amazing how accessories can change a look. You can always tell Kate's outfits have been so well planned out for tours, it's like her clothes say something about the place she is visiting and are always appropriate. I am looking forward to seeing what she wears in April!

Thanks Charlotte for the great polls. A lot of fun. Kate wore much more interesting shoes before she got married. It all stopped after those snakeskin shoes in Canada. They were fantastic but I noticed she changed later so she may be going for comfort. But the sledge does not look good with a lot of the dresses she pairs it with, especially the lace dress she wore to Saint Paul's. She needs to get some others in circulation.

Love the little clutches. So refreshing after all the fashion emphasis on huge designer bags. Always remind me of those painted madonnas with oversized babies. Kate has brought small back in fashion. Same with hats. They don't overpower her.

Now if only she would lose those too short skirts. She had such a fabulous princess-like look until she got pregnant.

Delighted to see Royal Digest back. Been enjoying some of my old favorties on blog, especially Sophie, Charlene and the Diana portraits. The blog looks fantastic as yours always do. Now waiting for the new posts and hoping all here follow it.

I couldn't decide which clutch to vote for, and I clicked back and forth and the system let me choose two! I chose the McQueen nude clutch that Kate carried at the Coronation service because I love the size and shape, and I chose the red bow clutch for the color and the bow trim.

I am one who didn't care which tiara Kate wore, just to see her in one was fabulous. I do like the papyrus though.

I am not a huge fan of any of her necklaces yet, except the diamond and rubies set. But I voted for the crystals because, as you said, Charlotte, it looked like a million bucks on first glance. And being a practical type of woman, I loved finding out how little it cost in reality.

I think you've done a terrific job with all these polls and the posts that go along with them. Kudos to you!

From Wikipedia: A fascinator is a headpiece, a style of millinery. The word originally referred to a fine, lacy head covering akin to a shawl and made from wool or lace, but mostly feathers. In the modern usage, it refers to a woman's alternative to hat for formal attire; it is usually a large hair decoration on a band or clip with elaborate trimmings and decoration like a formal hat and it can incorporate a base to make it a miniature hat.

Do you think Kate gets help from her mother while shopping? I mean Kate may shop by the internet, and mother may send her some links by e-mail. Her mother has a good eye for clothes and they both have very similar taste and style. I presume she may now choose outfits for the tour. What a fun to buy things when don't have tight budget.

It is really intersting. I like the fact that they had their own court. Is Charles really that jelous of them? I bet if W&K went w Charles to help promote his charities, he wouldn't care as much about how much the public loves them! I stated in a earlier comment that if Kate went w the Queen for the handful of engagments b4 her tour I would b super happy, well I would be happy if she went w Charles and Camellia. W&K got premession from the Queen for their part time Royal status, well I do wonder if Charlies is going to push for full time since the Queen is passing on more duties to him.

I LOVE the Papyrus Tiara. It was one of my favorites from Ella Kay's blog and I am so excited to see it out and being worn again! I only wish we had a better picture of Kate wearing it, but hopefully we will get to sometime in the future.

I voted for the brown hat because it is a real hat and Kate wears it so well, and because it was part of the wonderful outfit she wore in Switzerland to a wedding. The green hat for Christmas is also rather nice. I am not crazy about fascinators, and Kate often tilts her at a steep angle and covers part of her face with hers. I voted for the black clutch because it seems elegant and suited to many outfits. The necklace was hard because I am not crazy about any of them. I wonder whether Kate dislikes necklaces. Eventually I voted for the gold and diamond ring on a chain because it was the only one I thought was pretty. Of course I voted that I loved seeing Kate in the papyrus tiara. I am especially pleased that she is wearing tiaras, originally the Queen Mother's, which have a long royal history.

I wonder what effect the new public relations arrangements are going to have on royal news. It is said that Prince Charles wants a shift from obsessions with Kate's clothing to his chosen serious issues. How he will effect such a change, even with one public relations office under his PR director, is a question. I also wonder what the Queen's thinking is in permitting this, even if she concedes the necessity for some sort of transition to Charles's ways of doing things.

I read the Yahoo article mentioned above; assume it was you who posted it. Very interesting indeed. I don't blame Charles. His children's press office hasn't exactly been doing a stellar job, what with all the fits and starts. William's going to school, and will be staying in Cambridge . . . . oops, no he won't, he's commuting! Kate's coming out swinging in 2014, well no actually she's not got any engagements until they go to Oz. Two examples from the very recent past, meant as examples only.

Ooops, forgot the earrings when I posted above. I like almost all of them, and I voted for the green amethyst. Partly because Charlotte posted such a lovely photo of them. I also like Kate's favorite citrines and her pearls, which seem to be designed in her favorite style. It's also nice to see her wearing the pretty sapphire and emerald jewels and the beautiful chandelier earrings loaned to her by the Queen. Much more scope and range in earrings than in necklaces!

On the subject of headgear, delighted to see a weekly feature on tiaras in the Royal Digest. Was hoping Charlotte would do that. She does such a beautiful job and there are so many magnificant tiaras.

Think a lot of trouble with the royal family now comes from a poor press office. There have been a lot of conflicting and sometimes poorly worded releases about William and Kate that don't show them to best advantage. The many delays about announcing William's future and allowing it to be said he was taking a gap year brrought a lot of unnecessarily negative publicity. (Whether he was or not; they could have just said perfectly truthfully taking on increasing roles and engagements.)

The queen not collecting flowers without some sort of statement from the office, just clumsy comments from local police, was another recent example. Again there may be prefectly reasonable explanations but why leave it open to unpleasant insinuaton. Camilla has also been handled awkwardly, rammed down people's throats with comments about how witty she is, when her interview sounded very flat. She could have been brought out much more subtly and thr public would have felt less like she was being thrust upon them.

No public figure today can ignore the press and careful press handling will be vital to the future of the royal family. I would have suggested a clean sweep of all those offices but at least combining the offices may help. I hope Charles isn't jealous. He knowlingly forfeited a great deal when he married Camilla, neither popular nor young, There seems little question he will get to be king in the natural course of things, but attention is always going to be the younger generation who are both more appealing and attractive but also don't carry the unpleasant baggage of the past that he does.

I think that it comes as no surprise to any of us who have been talking about Charles' disapproval of William and Kate's popularity, that the media would have caught on to that as well ! About time. It's funny how so many of us caught on to the internal dynamics of the royal family, while the media took their own sweet time to arrive at the same conclusions. The next article will be on how Charles is limiting Kate's engagements because he wants to promote Camilla !!

I think that there is truth to the story that Charles wants to shift the public dialogue and frankly I laud him for that. I think that no matter what his faults, no matter how he treated Diana or his personal insecurities, Charles is the only one in the royal family with a modicum of intellect. He is curious about the world around him, has *extremely* progressive ideas about the environment, religion, the welfare state and the role of monarchy in today's world. So I think that it is overall positive that Charles wants to shift media focus to the issues (and the role he and Camilla play).

I said this to a friend in email, but I have a hard time thinking Charles is jealous of William. I think it may have more to do with your second point about Charles wanting to shift public dialogue and the best way to do that is to control it. Which by consolidating all their press and PR office (is PR included in this too?), he does just that.

There are a few anonymouses posting here on the same topic . . . do you think you guys could pick names so those of us responding know who we're responding to? It makes it difficult to try to participate in a discussion when I don't know if I'm talking with Anonymous 1, 2 or 3. Thank you very much.

Very interesting discussion, this is.... I followed the story of Prince Charles and Princess Diana quite closely during the years and in sharp contrast to the "public" opinion on that now infamous interview Diana gave to Martin Bashir of Panorama, I think that she did NOT question the Prince of Wales´s ABILITY to take over "the top job" as she put it. She was VERY careful throughout the interviemw NOT to say anything negative about the Prince, rather on the contrary. What she did say, was that by becoming King one day, he would have to be much more "impartial" which indeed would be a huge constraint to him. She herself had her doubts whether this would be easy for him and I had to agree with her at the time. Prince Charles did some rather "outrageous" things during the eighties. He was VERY outspoken about many things like modern architecture, environmental issues and "alternative healing methods" which was, at that time, REALLY daring, especially coming from the future King. Diana chose her words very carefully in that interview because she knew there was going to be a divorce sooner or later and she feared she might lose her children. Therefore, she didn´t want to upset Prince Charles too much. Why do I mention all of this? Well, I think that the Prince of Wales still is very much interested in actually using his role to make a difference and change things for the better. I don´t think he is jealous of his son´s popularity but rather concerned - because he saw what it did to Diana. For me he rather tries to give William and Kate the peace and space they need at the moment and he tries to carefully use their immense popularity by making specific trips to specific countries. If we take a look on their tours so far and this year, it´s really where they can make a maximum impact within a comparatively short period of time in order to boost the monarchy. So I think Prince Charles is quite happy to let them do the "glamour" bit so that he can go on with the actual "important" issues. In due time William will get more involved in Prince Charles´s activities, to boost those causes with his popularity. At the moment, both William and Kate are allowed to learn and at the same time build a stable family, which in my opinion, is very sensible indeed.. Lots of love, Eve

bluhare, would you agree that he was jealous of Diana's popularity? Well, I think this is a bit of deja vu...something he cannot afford with Camilla (and their baggage) not being the most popular prospect as future Queen.

Eve, I agree with your opinion of Diana's comments regarding Charles and "the top job". I didn't think it was as critical as it was perceived at the time; more a realistic assessment of her husband's personality and ambition.

Regarding youth and glamour...well, I'm not so sure that Charles (and especially Camilla) will be too keen on W&K running with it. By doing so, it makes it more difficult to sell Camilla as the next Queen. And I understand that she WILL be, but I mean that he needs to make sure it will not be an unpopular scenario when the time comes. In some ways, W&K are a vivid reminder of the joint star power (C&D) that could have been.............

royalfan, I do agree Charles was jealous of Diana's popularity. I mean it was reported quite a bit at the time that he was a bit cheesed they'd go to an engagement and no one wanted to see him. And I don't hold that against him either. If I were out with Prince bluhare and everyone was screaming for him and didn't care if I was there other than to catch swooning maidens, I'd be a bit cheesed too.

I think the Charles then and the Charles today are two different people. He's settled, and appears to be happy and comfortable. Camilla takes some of the stuffing out of him; something that Diana should have been able to do and wasn't, because of circumstance and pride. That wasn't her fault at all, don't get me wrong, but thirty years and contentment can do a lot.

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